Tezza's Theatre Place

Up at the Palladium, you will find the ultimate in family Christmas entertainment. With a huge budget, huge sets, an orchestra and more stars than there are in the heavens. Yes, it’s panto time and  Goldilocks and the Three Bears  are safely ensconced until January. However, a stone’s throw from the LP, is another panto. It’s smaller, has fewer star names and, as they themselves say, little budget. But going by my visit to the Karma Sanctum Hotel, to see  Jack and His Giant Bigstalk , I think I know which of the two pantos I prefer. In the village of Doggin On the Hill, Dame Trot (Edward Denny) lives with her son Jack (Alex Guersman). Jack is the epitome of a pantomime hero – handsome but a trifle dim. Not the brightest of individuals, he makes up for it by being a loving son to Dame Trot and a wonderful best friend to Daisy the cow (Ben Felton/Alex Reid). He is also a young man who has noticed stirrings in parts of his body and a fluttering in his heart, especially w...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/191652/thark-drayton-arms-theatre-review/ Thark I’m a great fan of the 1920s. OK, I’m not old enough to remember them but thanks to books like the Jeeves and Wooster series, I do feel that I know the era pretty well. I’m also a fan of farce as a theatrical genre and a combination of both seemed too good to miss. So off I toottled to the Drayton Arms to see a performance of Ben Travers’ quintessentially English farce  Thark. At the home of Sir Hector Benbow (Mathijs Swarte) his butler Hook (Daniel Casper) has just received some news. He has become a father – admittedly of a girl but he can cope with that. As he tries to head off to go and see his wife and child, he gives instructions to Warner (Sophia Lorenti) the maid as to what to do when a female visitor arrives. Sir Hector is out at the races with his nephew Ronny (Robin Blell) while his wife Lady Benbow (Charlotte Vassell) is away, so it is up to the servants to ensure that Sir Hector’s...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/190167/king-tut-a-pyramid-panto-kings-head-theatre/ Walk like Egyptian. Photo William Knight Have you ever tried to explain to someone that isn’t from the UK what a pantomime is and why it is such a part of the Christmas celebration? Obviously, if you are talking to an American, it’s fairly easy. Point at the White House and they will get the concept of pantomime very quickly. Given a conversation I had recently, it’s not that easy to get the concept over. So, my advice is to forget trying to explain and take your interlocutor to the King’s Head where Charles Court opera are putting on their Christmas pantomime  King Tut . Egypt 1922 and explorer Howard Carter (Matt R J Ward) is looking for the tomb of Tutankhamun. His party consists of Lord Conniving (John Savournin/Matthew Kellett) who is financing the expedition, and is attending along with his ward Evelyn (Francesca Fenech). There are also a couple of locals in the shape a Porter (Phili...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/173436/review-stick-and-twisted-hivemind-hen-chickens-theatre/ When you stop and think about it, all of us have to improvise every single day. The bus doesn’t come, or there are no jacket potatoes left in the canteen, there are systems issues at work, etc. Every day something happens that makes us change from our normal and expected routine and make up our next action on the spot. And that, my friends, is the essence of improvisation. However, I think I can safely say that the majority of us wouldn’t be happy standing on a stage, under harsh lighting, frantically improvising stories for a paying audience, would we? Well, that’s what improv group Hivemind do in their show  Stick and Twisted  which I saw at the Hen & Chickens Theatre last night. The show itself is unique every time it is performed and therefore there is no point in telling you exactly what I saw, so to give you a rough idea. Hivemind are 5 very personable folks going...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172655/review-my-world-has-exploded-a-little-bit-bella-heesom/ I’m going to start this review with two facts. You may not like them and may resent me saying them but remember, they are facts. First, everyone you know is going to die and second, everyone you have ever met is going to die. Unless there are some huge leaps forward in medical skill, death is inevitable. And yet, somehow, people are often caught unawares when death occurs. Well, not any more thanks to Bella Heesom’s semi-auto autobiographical play  My World Has Exploded a Little Bit  which is having a run at the Ovalhouse. As well as writing the show, Bella, along with the totally mad Eva Alexander, also performs the play. Bella is a really lovely and affable person who warmly greets each member of her audience as they arrive to take their seats. In a real effort to avoid spoilers,  My World Has Exploded a Little Bit  is part performance and part lecture on Bella...